Tagged Questions

There is a grammatical form in the chumash of the vav [hahipuch]1 which turns words written in the past form into future tense and future tense constructs into past. I noted this, I think, pointed out ...

El(אל) and Eloah(אלוה) are both singular forms (nouns), but its אל thats being used to form the plural Elim (אלים), and אלוה thats being used to form the plural Elohim (אלוה׳ם). Both singular forms ...

I am helping my son lain parshat Emor. He's having a hard time seeing the difference between קֹֽדֶשׁ and קָדֹ֥שׁ esp. when they are written the same. Usually, when I train students to lain, I try to ...

The roots לאך and עבד are the basis to form the words that could be translated as 'work' מלאכה and עבדה. But what is the difference?
What distinguishing work from work?
Some times its prohibited to ...

The word מַיִם is, as far as I know, pretty consistently grammatically plural in Chumash (and, incidentally, in more modern Hebrew also). That is, the adjectives that modify it are plural adjectives, ...

In Tanach, the noun מַיִם occasionally is prefixed with a ב־.
When the noun is modified by an adjective, the word formed is בְּמַיִם, as in Bamidbar 24:7 "וְזַרְעוֹ בְּמַיִם רַבִּים", N'chemya 9:11 ...

What is the reason for the kri ksiv in 'בראשית פרק כ''ז פסוק ג, in which the ksiv is צידה but the kri צָיִד? See http://www.mechon-mamre.org/i/t/t0127.htm
I would like to know the reason for how the ...

What is the reason for the kri ksiv in בראשית פרק כ''ד פסוק ל''ג, in which the ksiv is ויישם but the kri וַיּוּשַׂם?
I would like to know the reason for how the ksiv fits in to the pasuk and how the ...

What is the reason for the kri ksiv in שמואל א' פרק ט' פסוק כ''ו, in which the ksiv is הגג but the kri הַגָּגָה?
I would like to know the reason for how the kri fits in to the pasuk and how the ksiv ...

A topic came up regarding pronuncation in a class i was recently in. The class is about leading prayers, and a question came up regarding how to pronounce certain words that have a shewa following the ...

In relation to the hebrew verb to shoot YaRaH, what does torah literally mean?
If the word torah comes from the hebrew verb, to shoot, then what does torah literally mean? does it mean "shooting" or ...

I noticed a mix of the two forms of the Hebrew objective marker commonly pronounced אֶת. in the Torah. (There is no English translation of this word. It is used only to notify that an object follows ...

I have at times noticed that there are disagreements in the grammar of certain brachot in Birchot haShachar. For example, the first brachah is "אשר נתן", one of the later ones is either (depending on ...

The מנחת שי at the beginning of בראשית (on "יהי רקיע") cites a מחלוקת whether the word 'רָקִיעַ' (and likewise for other words with a פתח גנובה) is pronounced as רָקִיאַע or as רָקִיַע, that is, with ...

The prayer accompanying several mitzvos (such as putting on tallis and tefillin) expresses the desire that it be considered that the mitzvah is fulfilled as well as all the "613 mitzvos dependent on ...

Exodus 28:17 and 39:10 tell that the second stone in the first row of the breastplate of the high priest was פִּטְדָֽה (often translated as topaz).
The first unaccented syllable is פִּטְ which is a ...

I know siddur chabad meant to be meduyak but I'd like to know if other chassidus or their rebbes are makpid on correct dikduk / wording as I often read they are not on pronunciation, accentuation and ...

I can understand most of the breakdown of the word מוסרותימו in Psalm 2, thanks to your website viz masculine noun from root אסר with female plural ending ות. Also the poetic ending מו for 'their', ...

I understand that, excluding the 24 books of Tenach, in all the Torah books (i.e. Mishna, Talmud...) we have no tradition on specific vowels.
(I was reading a Shulchan Aruch Harav vowelized, in which ...

When we talk about "redeeming" a first-born son or a captive, we use "pidyon" (root פדה). When we talk about what God does for us we use "goel" (גאל). My dictionary translates both of these roots as ...

In Shmuel 1 16:11, the word שלחה is used as a masculine word. The Mesora there lists 6 places where שלחה seems to be used as a masculine word. Another case is Bereishis 43:8 and another is Melachim 2 ...

I seek to understand Bamidbar sedra mattos Chapter 31 verse 17. Specifically, the word הֲרֹגוּ is stumping me. It is not the kal impererative masculine plural. The word Hirgoo, הִרְגוּ, appears as the ...

In the first five paragraphs of Maoz Tzur, the first-person singular is used fifteen times. However, the first-person plural is used just once, in ושם תודה נזבח - and there a thanksgiving-offering we ...

What is the right way to say ברכו את ה׳ המברך?
Is it ברכו את (pause) ה׳ המברך as I have heard or ברכו (pause) את ה׳ המברך?
We do find the את having a relationship with ה׳ as in Rabbi Akiva's drosho:
...

In shacharit, we recite the 13 middot (already a strange word) through which a piece of Torah text is explained (explicated?) This comes from Braita d'Rav Yishma'el and, admittedly, I haven't look at ...

In the end of Parshas Vayeishev, the Pasuk says the Sar HaMashkim 'Lo zachar es yosef' and 'Vayishkacheihu'. Rashi explains that the dual terminology indicates that he forgot him on that day (the day ...

In Vayishlach (Bereishis 33:6-7), Yaakov's wives and children bow to Esav. With regard to the maidservants and their sons, the verse states וַתִּשְׁתַּחֲוֶיןָ - in the feminine, whereas by Leah and ...

I was looking through the brachot this morning. Many are structured as identifying hashem as "one who __" such as "matir assurim" or "oteir yisro'el btif'arah." But the final three add in the letter ...

When women daven (pray), even by ourselves, it is convention to daven with male-gendered words ("modeh" vs "moda" as one of many examples). Why is this; are there sources that say we should be doing ...

I've noticed that some people, when reciting kaddish, pronounce the first words as "yisgadal v'yiskadash" with a patach under the dalet of both words, while others say "yisgadel v'yisgadesh" with a ...